Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman (51)

• Paperback: 416 pages
• ISBN: 978-0552176453

 

AMAZON

What if, for once, the predictions are right, and the Apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea?

It's a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon, now find themselves in. They've been living amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse.

Now people have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it's only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day.

You could spend the time left drowning your sorrows, giving away all your possessions in preparation for the rapture, or laughing it off as (hopefully) just another hoax. Or you could just try to do something about it.

And then there's the small matter that someone appears to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .

 He makes things up and writes them down. Which takes us from comics, (like SANDMAN) to novels, (like ANANSI BOYS and AMERICAN GODS) to short stories, (some are collected in SMOKE AND MIRRORS) and to occasionally movies, (like Dave McKean's MIRRORMASK or the NEVERWHERE TV series, or his own short film, A SHORT FILM ABOUT JOHN BOLTON).

In his spare time he reads, sleep, eats and tries to keep the blog at www.neilgaiman.com more or less up to date.

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My review for short story, How To Talk To Girls At Parties

My review for The Ocean at the End of the Lane

My review for The Last Temptation

My review for Trigger Warning

My review for Stardust

My review for American Gods

Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was fifteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. In 1987 he turned to writing full time, and has not looked back since. To date there are a total of 36 books in the Discworld series, of which four (so far) are written for children. The first of these children's books, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal. A non-Discworld book, Good Omens, his 1990 collaboration with Neil Gaiman, has been a longtime bestseller, and was reissued in hardcover by William Morrow in early 2006 (it is also available as a mass market paperback (Harper Torch, 2006) and trade paperback (Harper Paperbacks, 2006). Terry's latest book, Nation, a non-Discworld standalone YA novel was published in October of 2008 and was an instant New York Times and London Times bestseller. Regarded as one of the most significant contemporary English-language satirists, Pratchett has won numerous literary awards, was named an Officer of the British Empire "for services to literature" in 1998, and has received four honorary doctorates from the Universities of Warwick, Portsmouth, Bath, and Bristol. His acclaimed novels have sold more than 55 million copies (give or take a few million) and have been translated into 36 languages. Terry Pratchett lived in England with his family, and spent too much time at his word processor.  Some of Terry's accolades include: The Carnegie Medal, Locus Awards, the Mythopoetic Award, ALA Notable Books for Children, ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Book Sense 76 Pick, Prometheus Award and the British Fantasy Award.

REVIEW:

So the hubby wanted to watch the show adaption. I told him I wasn't watching it with him unless I read the book first. So after he read it, here we are!

This book was harder to read than I thought it would be. I thought I would fly through it, page after page, but it was a slow pace. I actually looked at my hubby and said,'it's one of those ones you gotta read all the way through to get it, right?!'. He nodded and told me to stick with it. All the while, I was baffled at having to stick with a Gaiman novel...

I want to say when I got to the end that I had some sense of clarity and understanding but I can't. While these characters were so well-crafted, witty and fun to read in dialogue, the story itself was lacking, confusing and all over the place. You can tell this book was written with two very different authors.

Oh, how I pray the show is not like the book. I have a friend who says the show is better but I'm on the fence after struggling with the book.

Definitely not my favorite Gaiman book, that is still The Ocean At The End Of The Lane. Read that one if you haven't already.

2/5

***Compensation may be earned from the link within. This copy was purchased. Opinions are owned by Freda's Voice.